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How to Predict Celebrity Divorce?

In a tongue-in-cheek article in the New York Times, writer John Tierney re-introduces his practically fail-proof formula, designed in 2006, for predicting the demise of Hollywood marriages, by relying on his friend, Garth Sundem’s statistical expertise, and his own in-depth literature review of articles published and sold in reading material at supermarket check-out lines. All in all a very impressive and scientific analysis!

The formula they have devised includes considerations of the relative fame of the husband and wife, their ages, the length of their courtship, their marital history, and perhaps most importantly, the sex-symbol quotient of the wife, ascertained by looking at her first five google hits and counting how many of them feature either no attire, or skimpy attire.

In their 2012 New York Times update, they confirm the relative success of the Sundem/Tierney Unified Celebrity Theory by pointing out their accurate predictions in respect of the collapse of the unions of Demi Moore/Ashton Kuchter, Pamela Anderson/Kid Rock, and Britney Spears/Kevin Federline.

They also herald the success of their formula with respect to the intact marriages of Jennifer Garner/Ben Affleck and Matt Damon/Luciana Barroso. Their few failures include Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, but time will tell.

While they modestly don’t mention it, it seems their equation also works in respect of the relationships of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Hulk and Linda Hogan, Tiger Woods and his lovely ex-wife, and so many others.

In light of their recent reassessment of their theory, they have refined certain of their criteria; the major change being the recognition that rather than reviewing Google hits, a more effective formula is measuring the number of New York Times references, divided by the number of mentions in the National Enquirer.

As they move forward with this important research they acknowledge that a wife’s tabloid fame is now probably the best indicator of the success or failure of a marriage.

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3 thoughts on “How to Predict Celebrity Divorce?”

Interesting, but really just entertainment. There are real psychological tests that can be done which measure traits, habits, cultural backgrounds and many other variables. The issue of “nature” verses “nurture” comes down strongly on the DNA side, for living out social choices. The point is that the more similar are the couple in the very basics of life, the greater chance of family success. Sometimes the outer appearances may seem very different, in that one may be gregarious and the other not so etc., but when it comes down to it, the greater the coincidences of the things that run deep, the greater likelihood of a marriage success. Very few are willing to be assessed at that deep level (costs money and ego) and to then to find potential partners that have also done the same level of testing, and then find a compatible person, is a rare challenge. However it probably should be done more often. The high divorce rate could be improved, if folk took much more personal responsibility for real matchmaking for life. Also stability of our society could be helped with stable marriages, not just “living together”.

Divorce lawyers work in family court:
This is a special court within the system of courts. Family courts are usually run at the state level as opposed to at the federal level and are different from general purpose or general jurisdiction courts.